What is Participatory Research ?

Abstract

Participatory research supports and contributes to the efforts of individuals, groups movements which challenge social inequality and work to eliminate exploitation. It strives to play a liberating role in the learning process by promoting the development of a critical understanding of social problems, their structural causes and possibilities for overcoming them. It does not claim to be neutral. As a research approach, it calls for democratic interaction between the researchers and those among whom the research is conducted. Democratic interaction depends upon the political participation of those involved in conducting research on the causes of their exploitation with the objective of overcoming the exploitation.